The Ups And Downs Of Eric Clapton’s Life
Eric Clapton is one of the greatest guitar players of all time. He is a huge success, but on his way up he struggled with abandonment issues, drug addiction, relationship problems, and the death of a son. Through it all, his passion for music kept him going. If it wasn't for his guitar and his love of the blues, he wouldn't have been able to navigate some extraordinarily difficult times in his life. You won't believe some of the challenges he's been through.
Eric's Mother Was Just 16 When She Had Him
Eric Patrick Clapton was born to a teen mom just a few months before the end of World War II. His mother, Patricia Molly Clapton, 16, gave birth to him at his grandparents' home in Surrey, England, on March 30, 1945. His father, Edward Walter Fryer, was a 24-year-old Canadian soldier who was stationed in the country when he met his mother. Edward returned home to his wife before Eric was born. The young Patricia struggled to raise her son during the 1940s, so her mother, Rose, and her stepfather, Jack Clapp, became Eric's primary caregivers throughout his childhood.
He Believed His Mother Was His Sister
As a child, Eric believed his mother was actually his sister. He learned the truth when he was nine years old. Eric was never formally adopted by this grandparents, but they were his legal guardians until 1963 when he turned 18 years old. His mother, Patricia, met another soldier, whom she later married. Patricia and her husband, Frank MacDonald, relocated to Canada and Germany while he continued his military career, leaving Eric behind. The pair had three children, two girls and one boy. Brian died in a traffic crash in 1974 at the age of 26. Cheryl was born in 1953, and Heather was born in 1958.
Eric Felt Rejected By His Mother After Learning The Truth
When Eric was nine, his mother came to visit. Eric met her and asked if he could call her "mummy." He revealed in Eric Clapton: The Autobiography, that his mother told him to continue calling his grandparents mum and dad. Eric felt abandoned. He later compared the experience to a reality competition: "I think it must be like being on The X Factor and told you're useless, clear off. I can't watch that program because it brings a feeling of rejection." He also regretted not talking more about the incident in his book: "What I didn't really explore was my fear of rejection and where that came from."
His Interest In School Plummeted & He Changed As A Person
When he was a young boy, Eric was a nice young man with above-average grades. He also enjoyed art. After he learned the truth about his mother's identity, Eric became morose. It must have been very difficult to not have relationships with either of his biological parents. He started caring less about his schoolwork and didn't apply himself to his studies. He was so traumatized by his mother's abandonment, he failed the essential 11 Plus Exams. As a result, his grandparents sent him to St. Bede’s Secondary Modern School. Two years later he went to the Holyfield Road School.
Eric Developed A Love For Music Early On
Eric grew up in a musical household. Family members played the piano, and they loved listening to big band music. When he turned 13, Eric got an acoustic Hoyer guitar that was made in Germany. Unfortunately, the steel-stringed instrument was hard to play, so he forgot about it for a while. Two years later, he started playing again and got the music bug. A fan of the blues, he practiced for hours and hours and taught himself to play the chords along with his records. Eric taped his practice sessions with a recorder and would listen to them repeatedly until he got the music right.
He Was Expelled Because He Focused Too Much On The Guitar
At the age of 16, Eric was accepted at the Kingston College of Art on a one-year probation. But he focused too much on his guitar and listening to the blues that he didn't do his work. As a result, he was expelled. But he kept focusing on his music. In 1962, he was inspired by B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and other artists, and his grandparents helped him buy an electric double cutaway Kay. Eric would play in public places for tips before joining his first band, The Roosters. The band broke up several months later. He made ends meet by working with his grandfather, who was a master bricklayer.
He Was Given The Nicknames "Slowhand" & "God"
By the time he was 18, Eric started garnering a reputation among musicians. He was asked to join The Yardbirds and spent 18 months playing with the band. He was dubbed "Slowhand" and made his first two albums. Meanwhile, his love for American Blues wouldn't go away. After The Yardbirds produced the commercial hit "For Your Love," Eric decided to part ways with the group to pursue the blues. He joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1965 and was given the named "God" in homage to a fan's graffiti on the wall of London’s Islington Tube Station that read “Clapton is God.”
Clapton's First Serious Instrument
At the beginning of 1965, Eric Clapton was still playing for the Yardbirds. It was also at this time that he decided to put a decent amount of money into what he refers to as one of his first serious guitars. We purchased a cherry red Gibson ES-335 which he regards as "the instrument of [his] dreams." In his autobiography, he expanded on his experience with the guitar and how it could be played as both as an acoustic and an electric guitar because it was a new era of guitars. This allowed him to play rock as well as blues songs that didn't need full amplification from an amplifier.
He Became Famous After Forming Cream
Eric eventually left the Bluesbreakers and formed the band Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. They produced three albums with hits such as "Sunshine of Your Love", "White Room" and "Crossroads." The group lasted only two years, but it's considered one of the most influential rock bands of all time. Instead of simply copying riffs from popular blues albums, Eric created his own unique sound using the blues guitar. Unfortunately, ego and infighting led to Cream's split in 1968. Eric created Blind Faith, but they only made one album. He joined Derek And The Dominos, and then he started singing and composing more songs.
He Has A Solo On A Beatles Song
Believe it or not, Eric Clapton is the one playing the extended guitar solo on the Beatle's hit song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Clapton's close buddy George Harrison managed to convince him to play on the song which Clapton obliged. Considering their close friendship, it's a wonder that neither of them wasn't featured as much in each other's music up until their female issues that were soon to come between them. Did you know that Clapton became a close friend of Jimi Hendrix's in one night?
He Was A Close Friend of Jimi Hendrix
After Jimi Hendrix came to London in 1966 looking for fame, he and Jimmy Hendrix met one fateful night and became fast friends. Their friendship started after Chas Chandler, the bassist from the Animals recommended that Cream allowed Jimi to join them and play together at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Chandler said he went backstage after Clapton left in the middle of a song that he hadn't quite mastered himself but Jimi had. When he found him backstage he was furiously trying to figure out how Jimi knew it and he didn't, saying "You never told me he was that good". However, the two remained good friends.
He Wrote "Layla" About Pattie Boyd, Who Was Married To One Of His Best Friends
Eric Clapton's band Derek and the Dominos released Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs in 1970. The song was inspired by a tale about a beautiful woman whose father forbids her to marry, and a man goes crazy with desire for her. The song was rooted in Eric's then unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, who at the time was married to George Harrison of the Beatles (one of Eric's best friends). The song was not very successful upon its initial release. Now it's considered one of the greatest rock songs of all time, and the acoustic version won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
He Spiraled Into Heroin Addiction
Eric was so obsessed with Pattie, he did everything in his power to get her away from her husband. He threatened to take heroin if she didn't leave him. He became heavily involved with the drug for about three years, and he spent a lot of time at home and doing very few live performances. In his autobiography Clapton, he estimated that at one point he was spending about $16,000 a week on heroin. He told NPR in 2007: "The thing about that kind of addiction that's pretty funny, on reflection, is that I always thought, 'I'm handling this. I can handle it. I can stop anytime. I just don't want to stop right now.'"
Once He Was So High, He Performed Lying Down On Stage
Clapton released "Cocaine" in 1977. He was heavily using drugs and alcohol (but no longer heroin). At one point, Eric was so out of it, he played his guitar lying down on the stage. He told NPR: "It didn't seem that outlandish to me, and in fact, probably was all I was capable of. It was either that or just laying down somewhere else." He explained that what kept him going was the music. "The presence of music in my life has always been the salvation element of it. Not necessarily the playing, as much as just being conscious of it, listening to it, has kept me moving," Clapton said.
He Finally Married Pattie Boyd
Pattie separated from Harrison in 1974. She married Eric in 1979. While it seemed the two could finally have a good life together, things didn't go as planned. She wrote in the Guardian in 2008: "I think both of the men I married were so unfaithful and destructive because they were adored by hundreds and thousands of people. It's very seductive and easy to misbehave. Am I as much to blame? Probably, because I didn't put my foot down. I didn't feel that I had the right to. It takes two to tango, and I suppose in a way I colluded with the effect of their huge fame."
"I Shot The Sheriff"
The original "I Shot the Sheriff" was a song written by Bob Marley and released in 1973 by the Wailers. Surprisingly, Eric Clapton's cover version of the song that was featured on his 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard was the most successful version of the song. It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also the only one of Eric Clapton's singles to ever hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 even though it was a cover. The success of Clapton's 1974 version of the song also helped the reggae genre reach a mass market.
He Threw A Pie At Shirley MacLaine's Face
In 1975, Clapton participated in something known as the "celebrity circus". This included himself as well as actors such as Sean Connery, Burgess Meredith, John Huston, and Shirley MacLaine. At the time, Clapton also had a bit of a celebrity crush on Shirley MacLaine. Originally, Clapton and Meredith were supposed to throw pies in each other's faces which they did as scripted for the first two shows. However, on the third show, Clapton and his buddies were a little bit tipsy and thought it would be a good idea to hit Shirley with a pie instead. Shirley remained furious at Clapton for months after the show.
While Pattie Was Struggling To Have A Baby, Eric Got Another Woman Pregnant
Pattie had a hard time coping with Eric's alcoholism and numerous affairs. She spent several years undergoing IVF treatments to have a baby and then found out his mistress, Italian model Lori Del Santo, was pregnant. Eric and Pattie divorced in 1989 due to "infidelity and unreasonable behavior." Pattie later wrote a book about her life, and Eric was a big part of it. He was stunned and saddened when he read an excerpt. He later recalled: "When I saw the headline 'Eric Clapton's drinking killed my marriage' it brought it all back to me; that fear and anger and self-loathing."
Eric Had Another Love Child That He Hid From Pattie
Eric started a relationship with a woman named Yvonne Kelly, a studio assistant from Doncaster, in 1984. He was still married to Pattie at the time. They had an affair while he was on the Caribbean island of Montserrat and recording an album. Yvonne is the mother of his first child, daughter Ruth. Eric did not tell Pattie about Ruth even when they were going through their divorce. "I started an affair with Yvonne and Lori Del Santo almost in the same breath," Eric later said. Ruth and his son Conor (with Lori) were born within a year of one another.
He Used To Enjoy Playing Cricket
In the 1980s, Clapton was introduced to the sport of cricket by David English, the former president of RSO records and the founder of the Bunbury charity cricket team. Clapton joined the charity cricket team and would occasionally take part in matches in the greater London area. He retired from playing the sport in 2003. Now, he loves watching cricket but hates playing it. He said that "Every now and then it appears to be an attractive proposition, then the game starts and reality dawns.” He continued, “I like to be good at everything I do whether it's fishing, playing the guitar or singing. But the only thing cricket has taught me is humility.”
His Four-Year-Old Son Died Tragically
Eric and Lori's son Conor was born in August 1986. In 1991, he died after falling out of an open bedroom window from the 53rd floor of a building in Manhattan. He was just four years old. Eric struggled deeply with his son's death, but he didn't relapse. He made a conscious decision to stay healthy for his little boy. He later said: "The death of my son was the first time I felt absolute devastation." In the past, he used drugs to numb his pain but learned how to let himself feel: "I am an emotional guy, and I think I've actually learned how to be emotional in the moment."
He Wrote The Hit Song "Tears In Heaven" About Conor
Following his son's death, Clapton and Will Jennings wrote "Tears in Heaven" for the film Rush, which centered on drug addiction. It was Clapton's best-selling U.S. single and won three Grammy Awards. He stopped performing that song and "My Father's Eyes" in 2004, explaining: "I didn't feel the loss anymore, which is so much a part of performing those songs. I really have to connect with the feelings that were there when I wrote them. They're kind of gone and I really don't want them to come back, particularly." He later played them again during his 50th-anniversary world tour.
His Own Signature Model Guitar
In 1988, Eric Clapton became the first musician to have their very own Fender Stratocaster signature model. Although he as once a Gibson lover (especially due to his Gibson ES-335), he eventually switched over and began to use Fender Stratocasters. While on tour with the Dominos, he bought 6 mid-50's Fender Stratocasters. He gave away three to his close friends, and then took the best qualities from the remaining three and created his ultimate guitar. He took the body from one, the neck from another, and the electrics fro, the last one. This became the instrument that he named "Blackie" and was his main instrument from 1970 to 1986.
Eric Clapton Has A Planet named After Him
In 1990, a minor planet was named after Eric Clapton. Minor Planet 4305 is now known as "Clapton". Minor Planet 4305/Clapton was discovered by astronomers at the George R. Agassiz Station of the Astronomical Observation at Harvard, Massachusettes on March 7, 1976. Like all minor planets, Clapton is incapable of supporting life and are typically made up of rocks and metals. Planet Clapton's orbit is located between Mars and Jupiter in an area known as the Asteroid Belt. Eric Clapton is also not the only musician to have a planet named after him. The Astronomical Union at Harvard has named numerous of these little planets after other popular musicians.
He Dated Several Celebrities, Including Sheryl Crow & Naomi Campbell
Following his divorce, Eric dated numerous celebs, including model Naomi Campbell, actress Sharon Stone, and fellow rocker Sheryl Crow. He didn't want to be alone, but he wasn't fulfilled by any of the relationships. They were a means to an end. He told the Telegraph in 2005: "I used to identify my self-esteem with sex. Girlfriends became a way of avoiding being with myself. I'd see a woman in a room and I'd be magnetized and usually, that would be dangerous, because I don't think you can be any good to anybody unless you're OK on your own."
He Finally Met The Love Of His Life In 1998
Eric met an American woman named Melia McEnery when she asked him for his autograph in 1998 at a party thrown by Giorgio Armani. Even though she was half his age, he immediately fell for her. They started dating, broke up, reconciled, and wed in a small ceremony in 2002. She was 25 and he was 56. They have three daughters: Julie, Ella, and Sophie. He said of Melia: "There was something about her… strength. She occupied her space with absolute authority. It was clear that even though she was half my age she was capable of being an adequate partner for anybody."
He Supports Various Drug & Alcohol Treatment Centers
Eric has been sober since 1987 and was able to do kick his habits through the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. He now uses his experiences to help others. Around the time he met Melia, Eric founded The Crossroads Centre, a rehabilitation center for drug and alcohol abusers on the Caribbean island of Antigua. He is very active in fundraising and management of the center even today. Prior to opening the center, he served as director of Clouds House, a U.K. treatment center. He was also on the board of directors for The Chemical Dependency Centre from 1994 until 1999.
Ensuring the Success of the Foundation
In order to help raise money for his foundation, On Juen 24, 1999 Clapton held an open auction for more than 100 of his guitars. Among the guitars was the instrument "Brownie" which he recorded his hit track "Layla" on. The auction was held at Christie's Auction House in New York in which the auction raised just under $5 million for the Crossroads Centre. Then, on June 30, 1999, he hosted a benefit concert for the Centre at New York's Madison Square Garden where the proceeds from it airing on VH! and DVD went towards benefitting the Centre.
The Crossroads Guitar Festival
Five years later, Clapton planned and executed the second and last major fundraising effort for the Centre. On June 4, 5, and 6 2004, he hosted the first Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, Texas. It was a three-day festival packed full of the world's best guitarists which were filmed and the proceeds from the sale of the DVD went directly back into the Centre. There was also a second guitar auction on June 24, 2004, which raised another $6 million for the Crossroads Centre and also auctioned off his guitars "Blackie" and his cherry red Gibson ES-335. The festival was held again in 2007, and the proceeds yet again went into the foundation.
His Legacy Is One To Be Proud Of
Over the course of his career, Eric has won (or shared) 18 Grammy Awards as well as countless other awards and accolades for his success in the world of rock music. He is also recognized for his numerous collaborations with artists such as The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Steven Stills, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Sting, and Roger Waters. In 2004, he hosted the First Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, Texas. He published his biography Clapton in 2007, and it became a best seller. He released his 23rd studio album I Still Do, in 2016 and continues to perform and make music.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Believably, considering the influence that Eric Clapton had had on music throughout his career, he is the only person to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three separate times. In 1992, he received his first induction for his time playing in the Yardbirds. Just one year later, he was inducted for his second time for his success in the power-trio band Cream. Then, in 2000, he was finally inducted for his final time for his solo projects the first year he was eligible to be inducted one again. He would have received a fourth induction if he had played in The Band which he had been interested in at one point.
He's A Big Fan Of John Mayer
Although not everyone may know, Eric Clapton is a huge fan of John Mayer and even calls him a "master guitarist" and among one of the best. For Eric Clapton's own music festival called Crossed Roads, Clapton hand picks some of his favorite guitarists to come up on stage and have a big jam session. You don't get to be a part of this honor unless you can hold your own, and John Mayer has been chosen to play every year that the festival has been held. Clapton even refers to Mayer as "Slowhand Jr." and believes he's good enough to play among the ranks with legends such as BB King, Carlos Santana Derek Trucks and more.
He Loves Ferraris
For decades, Eric Clapton has had a small obsession with Ferraris. Starting as a young boy he fell in love with motor racing, so after he became as successful as he is, he decided to acquire some of his own. Over the past forty years, he has owned over a dozen of them including numerous highly expensive ones such as a 1964 250 Lusso, a 2002 Enzo, and a customized 2012 458. On Ferraris, Clapton noted that “I love the sound of Ferraris and I, as a musician, can confirm that these engines deliver proper music. I have to say that my weak point is the 12-cylinder’s music. The sound of the 12-cylinder is the most magical thing in the world.”
He Played With Stevie Ray Vaughn The Night He Died
The evening that Stevie Ray Vaughan died, he played a show with his band Double Trouble at the Alpine Valley Musical theatre joined with special guests such as Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Vaughan's older brother Jimmie. After the show, there were four helicopters for the artists to fly back to Chicago. Vaughan was eager to get back to Chicago and took the final seat of the first departing helicopter. Unfortunately, the helicopter ended up crashing and everybody on board of the helicopter died. Vaughan's brother Jimmie and his mother sued the helicopter company for an undisclosed amount.
Clapton's Reaction To Stevie Ray's Death
The loss of a fellow musician and a good friend was extremely hard for Clapton though he was no stranger of loss. However, he said that one of the hardest things about Stevie Ray's death was that he had just started to get his life back together again. He had been sober for three years and was arguably at the peak of his career. He said that the night that he died, everyone was watching him with their mouths open in awe at what Stevie was doing on the stage. He also believed that there was nobody better than Stevie on the planet and there was no making sense to his untimely death.
Eric Clapton on Beatlemania
Although Clapton had a deep personal relationship with George Harrison of the Beatles, he didn't agree with everything about the band. Although he didn't hold anything against the Beatles personally, he felt that the whole Beatlemania aspect of their career was way too over the top. In his autobiography, he commented that "[Beatlemania] showed how sheep-like people were, and how ready they were ready to elevate players to the status of gods." He went on to say that the majority of his own favorite artists died alone, unknown, and poor and that no band deserves that level of celebrity status. However, what was ironic is that Clapton would go on to be worshiped as a god of some sorts himself.
